Scoping a No. 4 Enfield?

[W.R.Buchanan]

Blackwater/Alamo: I made those mounts you see in the pics.My gun has a Redfield Olympic rear sight However it was a design modification of a mount that Redfield made back in the day to mount their Series 70 Receiver Sights to a #4 Enfield. See Pics below. They can be adapted for either Redfield or Lyman style sights with a flat base, like for a levergun. IE; Lyman 66LA.

As far as the front sight is concerned some white paint on the back face is a good way to go. I also really like the XS White Line Front Sights as they are highly visible against most backgrounds. Matching the dovetail would be the rub there, but not impossible.

As far as seeing the thing, Your eye can only focus on one thing at a time. We were all trained to shoot with Open Sights where we were changing focus between the front, rear, and target constantly. nobody our age can do that.

I didn't find out about focusing solely on the Front Sight until about 12 years ago. That is the secret! With an Aperture Sight, you simply focus on the Front Sight and put the sight on the fuzzy target, there is no lining up needed.

With Aperture Sights the size of the hole controls the focus between your eye and that distance to the Front Sight. IE: Focal Length. Your glasses do the same thing. The trick is to use different apertures or a Merit Adjustable disc to establish what size you need.

If you are using a Red Dot Sight once again you only focus on the dot. Put the dot on the target and let fly. It is the fastest way to acquire a target simply because you only have to concentrate on one thing,,, the dot. I was blown away how fast I could get on target with my Carbines. I found myself having to tell myself to pull the trigger as I had already been on target for some time before I figured out I could just pull the trigger. It was Dot pause bang, but it turned into Dot, Bang, Dot, Bang, Dot, Bang! No thinking involved. Seeing the dot on target triggers the trigger. Not a separate thought to pull the trigger.

It's scary fast and you pick it up quick!

I can make these mounts if you would like one. I only need your sight in hand to make sure it works right on the gun.

Randy

[W.R.Buchanan]

Here's a pic of a gun with a S&K mount on it. This is Shamu's gun from www.Enfield-Rifles.com

Randy

[Blackwater]

Thank you very much, Randy, especially for that pic of the S&K on the rifle. I'm wanting a lower mount, and think I could make one. Want to try, at least. However, your info on the mount for the peep sights I find very intriguing. I'd really like to have one rifle dedicated to irons, and this rifle would be a good candidate for that for several reasons. I'm now thinking of doing as you show with one of those, and just resigning myself to embarassment on occasion. I have a couple of Merit discs, and they truly do help me a bunch if the light's bright. In low light, I can unscrew it and use the "ghost ring" that lets plenty of light in. A glowing front would enable me to shoot at any legal shooting hours, I think.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Never easy with guns like this, but always interesting to go through. Thanks for great insight and response to my inquiry. You really have me thinking now.

[Antietamgw]

Very nice work on the receiver sight mounts. That's a real good solution for a #1 I don't shoot because I can't see the sights. I've even got a few incomplete or altered sights in my parts box that ought to make a good start.

Here is a simple base I made for a #4 I bought that was already drilled and tapped for something. I wanted to know if the rifle would shoot before I went any further with it. I cannot see that little front sight well enough to know which of us was being tested. With the scope off I can use the aperature at the 300 yd or taller setting. That's important to me and I want to alter a front sight base to take a sourdough front that I can see. A little rough but didn't look too bad after it was blued. I leveled the bore and then the top of the base before it was drilled to match the existing holes in the receiver. The scope adjustments were centered and the group pictured was shot at about 40 yds. A couple quick adjustments and it was good to go. I'm happy with the way it worked out. It might not win any beauty contests but it's rugged and reliable.


[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...eld/No4%20Mk1/
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

[W.R.Buchanan]

Blackwater: the mount shown above in post #64 is about as low as you're going to be able to go.

My proposed mount for my Red Dot Sight is about the same height. I have the horizontal plate on the mount at .025 above the charger bridge so it has some air space in between, and I screw a piece of aluminum Pic Rail on top of that. That mount still only uses the Ejector Screw and the 6-32 screw thru the rear sight ear to hold it in place. I don't think that would be stout enough to mount a larger scope onto. The TRS 25 I'd be using only weighs 3 oz so there isn't that much weight to deal with.

The beauty of using the small Red Dot or a Peep sight is you don't change the way the gun handles. Something else to consider.

Randy

[Blackwater]

That's what I've been thinking too, Randy. Thanks for the confirmation. I am wondering if I milled off the clip guide, which I'll likely never use, if I might get it just a little lower. I've long been sensitive to little things like this, and the handling qualities you mention is the reason. I'm a sticklet for good cheek contact simply because it helps me shoot better in any position, and a lower scope mount generally tends to help that. I'll be restocking, so need to get the scope mounted so I can get the comb height and thickness down pat, and am taking it slow because I've found this usually helps me avoid wishing I'd not assumed too much. I also want to see if I can fabricate it myself, too, just for the challenge. I've never done that before, and if I make it QD, it'd maybe allow me to use the irons in a pinch, too. I find myself in the unenviable position of now, when my eyes are going south, I really WANT to use irons! Ironic, isn't it? But getting older is full of ironies. It seems there's a lot they don't tell you about getting older! Thanks a bunch for your insights and advice.

[KLR]

Blackwater - If you remove the charger bridge you can go pretty low. Here is the second version of my scope mount that I've been working on lately. The rings are Millet and I'm going to attach them by welding from under the mount. The right edge of the mount comes to about the centerline of the bore so I think I'll have plenty of room for ejection, especially if I trim the mount between rings like I did on my first version. The scope shown is a 3x9x40.